Auntie Pidge
by Kalira69
Summary: Keith's best friend comes over to meet the newest addition to the family. (Cats & Dogs, Living Together, #2)


I have no idea how common this is, but my best friend calls me Auntie to her dog (and I call her my puppy-niece), and I call a couple of my friends my kitties' Aunties (Auntie M, for example) so . . . that's where Auntie Pidge came from.

* * *

Keith tapped the side of one foot against Bopul's ribs, reminding him to stay nearby. He had to look away from the proposal he was studying on his tablet frequently to be sure the puppy was listening, but that was why he'd chosen this to work on. And he was waiting for a friend to arrive anyway, and he would have to put it aside then.

" _Holy shit_ , Keith _what_ do you- Oh my fuck _that's_ your dog?" Pidge asked blankly. Ah, and there she was. Keith looked up and raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought you said it was a puppy?" she said, pointing.

"He is." Keith said, looking down as Bopul, in hurrying towards the new person, tripped over one of Keith's feet.

"He's huge!" Pidge said, stretching her arms out wide and waving her hands. "For a puppy, I mean. . ."

"Oh. Er. Yeah." Keith said sheepishly, rising from the bench and following Bopul, who was a knee-high mess of fluff and uncoordinated limbs. Still. Kuro had matured much faster, clumsy-yet-enthusiastic leaps growing first more forceful, and then more nuanced.

"Okay, just checking if you knew you had a _giant mutant fluffball_ on your feet." Pidge said dryly, approaching the porch steps. "So. . . How big is he going to _be_?" she asked.

Keith hooked his foot under Bopul's ribs and hauled him back. " _Wait._ " he told the excitable puppy firmly. "Not sure. But. . ." he trailed off, then hauled Bopul back a bit more and told him to sit, which he managed after a few more reminders and a gentle shove down on his butt. "Probably almost as big as me." he admitted.

Pidge stared, then shook her head, looking like she was on the very verge of cackling at him, because she was _a horrible friend_. She crouched. "Hey puppy." she said almost conversationally, and Keith sat down on the porch himself.

"Bopul, meet _auntie Pidge_." Keith said, smirking as Pidge scowled. "Pidge, Bopul the magnificent ball of floof."

"I like Kuro better." Pidge said loftily, and then rubbed under Bopul's jaw as he lifted his muzzle. She rubbed his ears in both hands, and the puppy sprawled into her folded legs either happily or because he forgot how his legs worked, or both. He did not appear to care much that his newly-introduced auntie liked his feline brother better.

Keith plucked a bit of soft grey fur off his shirt and let it drift away.

"So, your boyfriend comes home with a kitten," Pidge said, lightly tapping Bopul's nose and making him wriggle, nearly crossing his eyes to look at her finger, "which you of course keep."

"He needed a home and he was already _here_." Keith said defensively, eyes flicking to where Kuro was perched in the window, eyes fixed not on _them_ but on the birds hopping around on the top of the fence between their property and their neighbour's.

"And you can't resist Shiro's big mournful eyes when he wants something." Pidge said dismissively. "Anyway. Boyfriend brings home surprise kitten. You adopt kitten - he's basically you with fur, you realise that, right?" she added, and Keith cleared his throat but didn't answer. It was possible Shiro had expressed the belief as well. More than once.

"And now. . . You got him a dog. Okay." Pidge said, nodding. Bopul dropped his mouth open in a happy grin and flopped over against her shins, nearly knocking her down even though she was already crouching.

Keith grabbed her hand to stabilise her and grabbed a handful of the nearest bit of Bopul - it was mostly fluff - to tug him away a little. "Yeah. I mean, Shiro's more of a dog person anyway." he added, flicking his fingers to try and get more puppy fluff off them.

"Why did you get him _the biggest dog you could find_ , you said he's only a baby and he's already like five times Kuro's size. . ." Pidge pulled one of Bopul's ears gently and he huffed, then licked her fingers. "Go big or go home does not have to apply to _every_ facet of your life, dude."

Keith elbowed her. "I didn't exactly _try_ for the biggest dog I could find. And there . . . might have been bigger dogs at the pound." he said, though it was admittedly a weak defence.

"Might?" Pidge repeated, brows arching. She scritched Bopul behind the ears, slim fingers disappearing into his puppy fluff. "You can't be sure since he isn't grown yet, or you don't know because you didn't _look_ at any other dogs?"

"I- I _looked_ at some other dogs." Keith said, then bit his lip when Pidge looked at him, a flat stare. "No one _wanted_ him." he admitted quietly, ruffling Bopul's fur between his floppy, fluffy ears. "He's sweet," he added, before Pidge could comment, "although he's also really energetic, and he's really cute, but. . ."

"But?" Pidge questioned, putting a hand over Keith's on the puppy's head.

"He's going to be _huge_." Keith said, mouth twisting. "Really. He might actually get to be heavier than me; he's a mixed breed and they weren't sure. And his paws. . ." He glanced at one of the oversized paws, which, toes splayed, was sliding out from beneath Bopul as he pushed into Keith's hands happily.

"Well Shiro handles _you_ all right," Pidge teased, "I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Right." Keith said, not quite feeling- "But he'll be _big_. And not everyone is okay with handling a huge dog and . . . he needs space. Which we have." He gestured at their house, with its spacious back yard and smaller, open front yard. "And we're both active."

"That's true. He looks like a ball of fluff but I suppose he's gonna be pretty strong himself, huh?" Pidge asked, and Keith nodded.

"And. . . No one wanted him." Keith rubbed one of Bopul's ears between his fingers. "I- No one wanted him and they couldn't keep him and they were going to have to put him down if he wasn't adopted soon." he said, shaking his head. "I . . . _went_ looking for a puppy anyway, so. . ."

"Your heart's just as squishy as Shiro's." Pidge said, but her jesting was gentler this time. "He's adorable, though, you're right. And I'm sure Shiro loves him."

"I'm pretty sure Shiro would have loved _any_ puppy I brought home." Keith pointed out wryly. "But yeah, he suits us."

"Ball of floof's lucky you have a ridiculous idea of reciprocal presents." Pidge said, tugging one of Bopul's ears between her fingers.

"He wasn't-" Keith began to protest, then closed his mouth. "Anyway." he said instead, weakly.

"Mmhm." Pidge raised her eyebrows. "Softy."

"Shut up." Keith said, but because Pidge could _sometimes_ be a wonderful friend too, she said nothing more, scratching through Bopul's fur and making nonsense noises at him.

"So, is he allowed in the house, or do we have to stay out here with him?" Pidge asked after a few minutes. "I want to see Kuro, too."

"Are you _my_ friend, or. . ." Keith trailed off playfully.

"Ah, you know you love me." Pidge said, grinning.

"I must, to put up with your terribleness." Keith told her, mock-resigned. Pidge stuck out her tongue. "And yes, Bopul is allowed inside. We're still learning about cats not being toys, but Kuro does most of that teaching. It's very . . . pointed."

Pidge laughed. "So am I Kuro's _auntie Pidge_ too?" she asked dryly, as Keith hauled Bopul off her legs.

"If you think that'll make him like you any more, sure." Keith replied, letting Bopul slide back onto his paws. He collapsed halfway, but then perked himself up again, and he trotted obediently at Keith's side as he went to retrieve his tablet, then returned to Pidge's side, and then the front door.

"Hey, Kuro likes me just fine!" Pidge said defensively, following Keith inside, nearly tripping over the puppy as he skidded at their feet. "We get along great. He's quiet and doesn't want to sit in my lap but is okay with being petted; I am okay petting him but I don't want him in my space."

"If you say so." Keith said, closing the door. Pidge had already left her shoes in the entryway and gone to say hello to Kuro. He stretched and pushed his head into her hand, distracted from the chirping - and very much out of reach - birds by the attention.

"Where's Shiro, anyway?" Pidge asked, as Kuro headbutted her gently in the solar plexus.

"Good to know you have your priorities straight." Keith laughed. "Shiro's over working on something _big and secret_ at the airstrip. With your dad, among others, apparently."

"Oh. Dad didn't mention. What is it?" Pidge asked curiously.

"I don't know." Keith told her patiently. "It is a big secret." he repeated, lips twitching.

"Well _that's_ no fun." Pidge snorted disapprovingly. "Your boyfriend's a _cream puff_ you could totally get it out of him."

"Your dad's wrapped around your fingers, why don't _you_ try and figure it out." Keith countered.

"Because tormenting you is more fun." Pidge said airily.

"Lies, you like tormenting _everyone_ you can get your little hands on." Keith snorted, Bopul lunging underfoot as he realised Keith was heading towards the _kitchen_. "And your dad probably takes longer to get snappy with you than I do." he added, smirking.

"Dude, _everyone_ takes longer to get snappy than you." Pidge teased, rolling her eyes. "Temper issues, you have them. But you never mean it - at least not at _me_ \- so why should I care?" She grinned brightly.

"You are a _terrible_ friend." Keith told her, and almost wished the kitchen had a door, just so he could shut it in her face as she followed him. Kuro appeared torn between following to join them in the kitchen or remaining where he was to continue watching the birds.

"You love me!" Pidge said cheerfully as she hopped up on a kitchen stool.

"The two are not mutually exclusive." Keith pointed out, and she snickered.

* * *

. . .the main point of this series is the animal-related/domestic fluff, I'm still sort of feeling around for how things work with the humans in this AU. So forgive me some vagueness and whatnot in regards to jobs and interpersonal histories, please.

I'm open to suggestions of things you'd like to see for this series and the floofs!


End file.
